Homecoming version 2.0

Today we are being discharged. The pediatric endocrinologist is still somewhat concerned about the couple of low blood sugar readings over the past few days, and has instructed us to check Madalyn's blood sugar before each feeding. We also have to feed Maddy every 3 -4 hours in order for her to maintain a relatively consistent blood sugar level. It will be nice to be home with her, however, I expect that we will both be pretty nervous.

We have a follow up visit with the Doctor next week and hope that everything will come back as normal.

Thank you so much for the prayers.

Well, we thought we would be able to be discharged tomorrow (Friday), but Madalyn just had a blood sugar reading of 54, which is too low based on what the doctors would like to see. We are not sure what they are going to want to do next, and we are feeling pretty discouraged. They took her level again an hour after she started eating, and it had jumped up, just as expected, which is somewhat encouraging. We are expecting to talk to the doctor tomorrow morning, to see what they think we should do next. Please pray for us at this time as we are really discouraged.

I think it is fair to say that both Ash and I really dislike being back in the hospital. we don't really have any news to pass along right now, but so far, we are on a schedule of feeding her every three hours, and having her blood sugar checked before each feeding. Both we and the doctors have decided that it is best to stop breast feeding at this point so that we can give her a bottle and make sure that she is getting enough at each meal. We also think that the reason her blood sugar got as low as it did was because she was not getting enough to eat from Ash, since we started breast feeding exclusively this past weekend. It seems that little Maddy prefers bottles anyway, so we really don't feel too bad about this decision.

As far as a long term game plan goes, I don't think we have one. The Doctor working on her case seems to think that anything serious can pretty much be ruled out, but we are unsure what the next step is going to be and we are wondering if we are going to have to feed every three hours for the rest of her life. Please continue to pray that the doctors find a cure to her low blood sugars and that we can find some sort of normalcy for our family.

I was hoping that I was finished posting to this blog, but it looks like I am going to have to "sharpen my pencil" and get prepared for more updating. So as of 3am, we were transferred to the main hospital uptown for testing to be performed on Maddy. So far she has been tested for a digestive problem, but they seemed to have ruled it out as of right now. The surgeon that we talked to seemed to think that there may be an underlying issue with Maddy's pancreas, which is a rare but possible diagnosis that was briefly discussed and dismissed during her stay in the nicu a few weeks ago. As of right now, we are probably staying here in the hospital for the next couple of days, and will be discussing Maddy's case with a pediatric endocrinologist and other surgeons here on the pediatric floor. We are hoping that they will be able to determine the underlying cause of the problem. Before last night, Madalyn had been doing great with us at home, and it is very
disheartening to see this problem present itself again. Yet again, we would like to ask for your prayers, especially that the doctors will be able to diagnose the problem.

Tonight we had to rush Maddy to the ER because her blood sugar was down to a dangerous level. Ashlyn and I could tell something wasn't right, and we decided it would be wise to check it. We are getting transferred to the larger hospital uptown so Maddy can be evaluated overnight. There is a possibility that Maddy will have to have surgery on her stomach related to a digestive problem that the ER doctor and the pediatric surgeon suspect. Please pray for us at this time and that Maddy will be ok.